The motivation behind producing this series of work began when I was flying back to Leeds, from Hong Kong. The flight was 15 hours and the plane had just landed. I and 350 other weary passengers on our Airbus A350 were excited to finally be off the plane – until the pilot disappointingly stated on the radio that we were stuck in a taxi for another 40 minutes. I was frustrated as I had a train to catch from the airport and this delay meant all sorts of complications – refunds, new tickets, and more money spent.
As any other tired traveler would do, I switched my phone off airplane mode and began immediately complaining to my friends. That first got me discussing the subject of traveling. As an international student, I frequently must use public transport to get around places. I have grown up in places where public transport almost serves as a building block to society – without it, I do believe that there would be fewer opportunities all around for everyone, leisure, business, or exploration. I thought about what my home would be like without any public transport, trying to imagine if Hong Kong was designed to be a car-centric city, and how that would affect the way we live and in society. I then became interested in the structure and engineering of these grand infrastructure projects, looking at how much funding Governments spend on public infrastructure and the risk/opportunity factors.
I noticed how these spaces were designed – and I found a sense of similarity with each building, within each structure. Everything was designed and engineered to fulfill a function, to answer a need that was valued by society. But how does that exactly shape us? Is there any benefit that a door is extra wide, or if we consider more environmentally friendly practices towards the way we build our landscapes? I want to explore and photograph these little things, presenting a perspective that we don’t necessarily consider in our lives. I want people to look at this project and be able to question more about the landscapes we live in and perhaps provide some more context to the world around us, that the average Joe won’t necessarily notice. In a world where mass population, large communities, and globalization grow; as our digital footprints grow larger and larger, I think we take for granted the physical spaces that we as the public share, and I think it’s important to preserve the roots in which we built our current society and the integrity of our communities and environments, so that we can continue to keep innovating and striving for a better future.
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